BLINDSPOT “THIS PROFOUND LEGACY” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Internal Betrayals

When we last saw our team before the short break for Thanksgiving, we were able to see each team member during their wedding speeches to Jane and Weller. We watched as each delivered a sweet message, serving to reinforce a well-known fact. Jane and Weller make a pretty darn good team.

However, it wouldn’t be Blindspot without bombshell revelations. As you may recall, we recently found out Reade is deeply involved with something connected to Roman, and it kind of seems as though Director Hirst is in on it as well. However, the even bigger revelation is that Jane had a child 18 years ago, and gave it up for adoption.

What will that new nugget of information mean for Jeller and the rest of the team? Let’s recap tonight’s episode to find out.

Parents Unknown

Friday’s episode, “This Profound Legacy,” begins with a pair of Russians in a gas station bathroom. A young man is cutting his hair, while an older female arrives with a gunshot wound to her side, and asks for his phone so she can destroy it. After some police cars drive by, they escape into the night.

At headquarters, Patterson breaks the news to Jane and Weller that after extensive research, she had determined that the adoption records were real, which means that it isn’t some sort of ruse created by Roman or Shepherd. Jane really does have a daughter out there somewhere. Needless to say, the information is tough for Jane to take.

The tattoo case of the week comes from a series of numbers on Jane’s back (the backbone of their case, according to Patterson) which correspond to a tracking number for a box of evidence from over 20 years ago. Weller and Jane head to the LAPD evidence warehouse to retrieve the box. Once inside however, they find a couple of Russians who are attempting to torch the place. After a fight, Weller and Jane are able to take one into custody, and put out the flames, eventually finding the box they’re looking for. Upon opening it, they realize it’s filled with untested rape kits.

It’s a confusing find until Patterson discovers that old rape kits are beginning to be processed, which means someone powerful wanted these particular kits destroyed. The team, disappointed with how broken the system is, decides to work to find out who wants these kits gone.

As such, Weller and Jane interrogate the Russian they caught, and after tracing the direct deposits that were sent to his bank account, they are able to put together the identities of two rape victims who could be tied to the case. They’re interrupted however, by the delivery of Stuart’s phone. The Coast Guard found it washed up on the shore of the Hudson, and Patterson is determined to get something off of it. However, Reade directs her to not let it be a distraction. This strange indifference from Reade about a lead into Stuart’s murder leaves both Patterson and Zapata confused.

Predictably, nothing can be found on the phone, but Zapata suggests they bluff a big find to see if they can flush out the mole in the office they’re looking for. Soon after the trap is set, it’s triggered, and Patterson and Zapata watch as they see a login from Reade, who immediately deletes the “evidence” in the files.

With results coming back in from the rape kits, the team discovers that King Ivan of Kazarus was the attacker of one of the two victims the team had found. Turns out the victim, Yasmine, had a son Vanya because of the rape, who would now be the rightful heir to the throne of Kazarus since King Ivan is now deceased. However, on his deathbed, Ivan let his brother Cyrus know about Vanya, and not wanting to give up the throne, Cyrus ordered the hit on Vanya.

Remember the Russians at the beginning of the episode? Turns out they’re Yasmine and Vanya who are on the run for their lives. Additionally, before Yasmine destroyed Vanya’s phone, Vanya sent a video message to his girlfriend, which Patterson was able to intercept and use some fancy software on to determine their location.

Weller and Jane find them, and manage to convince Vanya they’re the good guys, and get Yasmine to the hospital, which the FBI has on lockdown. Cyrus’ men manage to get in however, but a spike strip disables their car, and after a pretty decent gun fight between Jeller and Cyrus’ men, Weller and Jane are able to save the pair from a Molotov cocktail, and bring them back to headquarters.

Once there, they learn from Matthew Weitz, who is now a congressman, that with King Cyrus dead, the country is at the brink of an uprising, and in need of Vanya to come back and lead. Weller explains to Vanya he doesn’t have to go, but Vanya sees it as an opportunity to do some good.

As the episode closes, Patterson lets Zapata know that she was able to determine it wasn’t Reade who deleted the files – it was actually Director Hirst using Reade’s login information. When the two tell Reade about what they’ve found, they’re met with unexpected resistance, and both hope he’s just too close to the situation to see what’s going on, rather than actually covering for whatever Hirst is up to.

Meanwhile, Weller and Jane are spending a quiet night at home, where Jane tells Weller she has decided she doesn’t want to find her daughter, because her daughter is better off without her. Weller meanwhile flashes back to six months ago – in Berlin – where a young girl named Avery helps to convince a hotel front desk worker to look at the picture of Jane that Weller is holding. When Weller questions why the girl helped, she admitted it was because she was looking for the same person. Why? Because that person was her mother.

My name is Avery

I’m so torn about this episode overall. The storyline of the mole within the FBI (while done already on this show) has been interesting to watch, because it’s moving so quickly. We’re only on episode 5 of the season, yet already know the mole is Director Hirst. The more fascinating aspect however, is wondering what exactly Roman has on her. Or, is she playing the long game with Shepherd to infiltrate the team? Patterson and Zapata were able to find out that Hirst had ties to one of the previous tattoo cases – one which she didn’t want the team to work on. So as Patterson and Zapata realize, Hirst is manipulating the tattoo cases because some of them point to her. And it seems as though the tattoo that Stuart was obsessed with, is crucial to finding out Hirst’s secrets, since she does not want anything about Stuart’s murder to be found.

And then how is Reade tied to all of this? He admitted that Hirst had been looking out for him since he was at Quantico, and during Hirst’s warning to him about Zapata, there was definitely some secrets the two had with each other. However, my bet is on Zapata, and these secrets will come to light sooner or later.

I didn’t like this episode however, because the whole point of the tattoo case seemed to be a poor writing device devised to force Jane to reflect on her feelings about her daughter. Her strong reactions to something she only had one flash of memory on just didn’t seem believable, and merely a plot device to ultimately tie in the season’s theme of secrets, by connecting this to Berlin. As I suspected, Weller found Jane’s daughter in Berlin, but for some reason was keeping it from Jane, and Roman knows about it. Why he’s keeping it secret is now the question, because while Jane will initially feel betrayed about this being kept from her, she and Weller have grown too close to each other this season for this to tear them apart.